Spring Horse Classic 2017

Carus went to the State competition this weekend to compete in Horse Bowl - which is a trivia type competition where they answer questions about horses, how to take care of them, the equipment used with them, as well as riding and showing horses and other 4H rules.  Our county competition was delayed by a month thanks to all the snow in January, which gave us one less month to prepare than the other counties had.

She was on the Intermediate team - and they got 4th place out of the 12 competing counties!  Washington County's Senior team got 3rd place out of 10.  The competition was fierce and each round quite intense.  In one round, Carus buzzed in to answer the last question - the deciding point!  It was quite a difficult question with multiple parts that had to be just right.  The whole room focused on her hard while she answered, and as she said the last words, she froze in place.  Her hands still held up mid gesture she was making while speaking using her fingers to list each part out.  The whole team was leaning forward and perched on the edge of their seats.  Everyone in the room, from the score keepers and timers, to the other team and all of the parents in the audience, seemed to collectively hold their breath.  As soon as the judge nodded and said, "that's correct," Carus and her team collapsed into their chairs with relief and the room let out an audible, collective sigh.  Carus's was the loudest.

Our last round was against Clackamas county (who came in 2nd) and we tied with them, then lost the tie breaking round by 1 point!

We watched the final round, and Carus and her friend were bouncing in their seats at each question because they knew the answers! It was quite comical to watch their dramatics of not being able to scream out the answers -- but you know, some of those answers came to them so easily because they weren't in the hot seats with a buzzer in their hands anymore.

I've never been to Redmond/central Oregon before.  Goodness, Oregon is pretty all over!!  The views coming over the mountain were gorgeous, and I kept getting awestruck at the view of the mountains from the fairgrounds.  I'm so glad the weather was nice - kept the drive uneventful.  And I'm glad I was able to take her to this event!  We drove down early Saturday morning, and headed home Sunday afternoon; just over 400 miles round trip in one weekend! I'm still a bit knackered, but oh so proud of her.

7 Days is Back!

Day 1, 81/365
Wine with dinner.  My second glass, actually.  We were still in Washington visiting, and having a grand time. The boys had spent the day on the shooting range and the girls shopping Hobby Lobby (I need one of those stores near me....or maybe not). It was also day 1 of 7 days, spring. I nearly forgot, but thankfully a browse through Instagram reminded me.



Carus's day 1.
Sophie was mid yawn.


Day 2, 82/365
Road tripping home.  The drive home was much quicker, and went better.  We had Leia stay in the back and though she occasionally tried to climb over onto the kids, she did much better.  I'm going to start working on her riding-in-the-car manners.  Her car rides are usually to the dog park, 2 minutes away, so it's very exciting and very quick.  Yoda got to chill on top of the pillows and folded blankets.



Carus's day 2.
Can you find her?

WEEKEND!

272/365 - Bedtime snack - milk and cookies mmmm


Waaaayyy back in April we got a Groupon for a great deal on the Oregon Coast Aquarium and it expires October 4th, so this was kinda our last weekend to go....so, we went. Off to Newport!

273/365 - We stopped in Lincoln City for lunch on the beach.  What a great view to have while eating.


My favorite things at the aquarium were the shark tunnel and the sea nettles.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of the sharks, but they were really cool.

I did get one of the nettles. They are so lovely.


Starfish just hanging around.


We enjoyed the aquarium, however, I am so.glad. we didn't pay full price to go.  Adult tickets are $15.95 each, Adam is youth age now so his would have been $13.95, and Carus is lucky enough to still be "cheap" at $9.95.  Those prices are RIDICULOUS! We were there about 45 minutes and saw everything there was to see... totally worth the $25 Groupon, totally not worth full price (IMO).

Road trip naps on the way home.




274/365 - Making a mess in someone else's kitchen.  A friend and I canned some tomatoes and made some roasted marinara sauce.

TGI &^#% F!!

It's been a lllooooonnnngggg week at work. Volume has been high and we've had overtime available every day this week. I wasn't able to do every day, but I still have done some and I have been ready for Friday since, oh Monday at 10 a.m. (I start at 8). HA! I guess it's job security though, so there's that.

230/365 - Kids went with Gramma for a little road trip to see Great Gramma Pat.


They'll be back Sunday or possibly Monday afternoon. Have fun guys!


Yoda tried to go bye-byes with the kids and grammas.


231/365 - Today Leia didn't have the kids to play with so by the end of the day she was a bit antsy and was barking at me to get off work. So I took her and Yoda for a nice long walk and by the time we returned they both just crashed.

Road Trip Saturday

Last Saturday Robert and I took a little road trip north to the Seattle area get him a new car.  The insurance company totaled his car and finally kicked out a check.  Also, I needed him out of my Jeep and not car shopping anymore.  Car shopping Robert can be a smidge annoying. 

Because Robert can be a little picky he was not able to find a car he liked that wasn't a piece of junk locally, so....

MINI ROAD TRIP IT IS!

So that we wouldn't have to pay for gas on my gas-guzzling Jeep and so we wouldn't have to drive two cars home, and therefore saving yet more gas, we rented a car to drive up there.  It was a really nice car too. Brand new, less than 1,000 miles on it, leather (with the yummy new leather smell), VERY comfortable. I sorta wanted to just take this sucker home.


Except for the blindspots.  They were BAD!!


Heading for the 405 bridge, which leads to I5.


Now going over the Interstate bridge. Goodbye Portland!


Entering Washington.


Hello Washington!


Little stop for lunch. Eat at Ms. Beesley's. Exit 59 (I believe) on I5. Pretty good hamburgers, chicken strips meh, french fries - ew.


Almost at our destination. Kent/Renton is part of the Seattle metro area.

We had 4 cars to look at, and we headed to Robert's first pick where we were met by the salesman saying someone "just" showed up and was currently trying to buy the car. Extremely frustrating to drive 4 hours for a car and have it sold. They knew we were coming, they spoke to us when we were about 15 minutes away, you would think they would put the damn thing in the garage or put a sold sign on it or something.

Good thing we had backup cars to look at! And even better, at other dealerships! Bastards don't need our money.

His second choice turned out to look much cleaner than the first one and we bought it.

Robert's new (to him) 2008 Mazda Speed3 (the hatchback car, not the van).

161/365 - Robert and his new car.


We signed the papers, filled gas tanks (rental too, costs less than having them fill it at $6/gallon), dropped off the rental car, and headed home...


Almost home.


Just one last stop for dinner. YUM!